An industrial robot comprises a manipulator and a robot control unit for controlling the motions of the manipulator. The manipulator includes a plurality of joints that are moved under the control of the robot control unit. The control unit includes a storage medium for storing robot programs including program code for controlling the motions of the robot when executed by the control unit. The program code comprises a series of robot program instructions written in a robot language. The control unit has a program executor adapted to execute the stored program instructions. The robot can be teached to follow an operating path including a plurality of target points. The robot is taught how to perform a task by being guided through various target points along a desired operating path.
When an industrial robot is stopped due to a failure or intentionally, the robot has to be restarted. During a stop in production it is vital to get back on track with the right task as soon as possible. However, resuming to the current task is not always wanted or even possible. Today, the robot operator can use a portable user interface to the robot, also denoted TPU (Teach Pendant Unit), to switch programs, and to select which task to be executed. The same is true during teaching of the robot and when modifying a robot program, in which cases the user often has to step through the robot program to get to the right target point to be modified.
In a collaborative environment, and for many operators, using the TPU or another HMI in this manner is a slow and unintuitive process. It is a desire to use the TPU and details of the program structure as little as possible.
US20130345874A1 relates to the acquisition, organization, and use of task related information by industrial robots to facilitate performance of tasks in an autonomous manner.